The Caroling Goblin Story

The Caroling Goblin

Well, once again the time had come

To gather folks to sing and hum.

At Christmas our whole town prefers

My group, the Rawcliffe Carolers!

We’re mostly children but a few

Adults are in our choral crew.

Though some sing high and some sing low

Our mix of lovely audio

Is why we’re famous on the street.

We make the festive times complete!

Once a year, near Christmas Eve,

We knock on neighbours’ doors and weave

The most fantastic harmonies

Till all of Rawcliffe feels at ease.

I’ll proudly say – I’ll say it straight –

We are what makes Christmas great.

And so it was with some dismay

That this year, on rehearsal day,

An unfamiliar man appeared.

He had a long and straggly beard.

Very short, and odd of face,

He was a stranger to this place.

In fact, one of our members – Ted –

Who studies beasts and monsters, said,

“It’s possible, it does appear

That we have a hobgoblin here.”

The stranger bowed and said to us,

“I promise not to make a fuss.

Master Robin, I am named,

And I like singing!” So he claimed.

To test him, we asked, on a whim,

If he would sing for us a hymn.

And oh, did we hear such a howl!

And then a yowl! And then a growl!

His gargling was so off-key

We all were wishing we could flee.

We couldn’t hear through all his phlegm

“O Little Town of Bethlehem”.

But there was little we could do.

For on the posters that we drew

We said that “all can join!” So now

We’d have to sing with him somehow,

Even if, as Ted insists,

We had a monster in our midst.

Although he got the notes all wrong

We practised with him. Every song.

Wincing when he made a sound

Just like a spaniel or a hound.

We then agreed that we would meet

On Tuesday night out on the street.

When Tuesday came, we thought perhaps

Our tuneless fellow had a lapse,

Forgetting all about our date.

Cause now he was extremely late.

But then we saw him from afar

“Ahoy!” he called out. “There you are!”

And towards us he came barreling.

So off we went...a-caroling.

Upon a dozen doors we knocked

And our audience seemed shocked

By what was happening to each tune

Beneath the bright December moon.

“Silent Night” was very loud.

“Jingle Bells” did no one proud.

“Deck the Halls” was very rough.

“The First Noel” was quite enough.

But Master Robin was all cheer.

It’s possible he couldn’t hear.

But us? We were feeling surly.

“Maybe we should end this early,”

Was what we all were thinking when

The goblin said, “Now hold on then!”

He pointed and said, “Don’t we care

That we are skipping that house there?”

The house belonged to Mister Lyme.

He frightens us each Christmastime.

“A mean old man,” I then explained

Was what that awful house contained.

It wasn’t worth our time to try

And entertain a bitter guy.

Said Robin: “Even if that’s true,

We still should sing a song or two!”

And so we went and rang the bell.

A scowling man said, “Well?...Well?!”

We launched into “We Saw Three Ships”

And as we sang we saw his lips

Began to curl into a grin.

He said, “Oh do, oh do come in!

We’ll have biscuits by the fire!”

This man seemed to like our choir!

We had thought that Robin’s howling

Would increase the old man’s scowling.

But over cocoa, we were told

How he once had a dog of old.

How they howled throughout the season!

He missed the dog. That’s the reason

He was sad this time of year.

But when our noises reached his ear,

He was reminded of his pup.

And that is how we cheered him up.

By singing with the gusto of

A barking dog he once did love.

So we all spent a lovely night

Caroling by fire light.

We made a happy, joyful din

So glad that we let Robin in.

The End